Seth Jones spent Tuesday night at the Dallas-area home owned by his mother, Amy, packing for a trip that will mark the start of a new life.

Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. — in the state where his father, Popeye, was born — Jones will be surrounded by his parents and others who have played roles in getting him literally and figuratively to a very big, new stage in his hockey career.

Jones will have some new clothing on his way back from Newark — the jersey of the team that chooses him in the NHL draft. For much of the spring, odds seemed to favor the jersey being that of the Avalanche, which owns the first overall pick. It all seemed to make too much sense to believe anything else.

A 6-foot-4, 206-pound defenseman with smooth skating ability, skill and maturity beyond his 18 years, Jones spent eight years living in Littleton and Lone Tree, honing his game in area youth leagues. The Avs, as anyone with working eyes could see last season, need a lot of help on defense.

Add in that Jones got into hockey partially from a tip by Joe Sakic to his father, Popeye, a former Nuggets player, and you had the perfect story line for draft day: the local kid, a son of an NBA player, who returns to help restore the hockey franchise back to glory. But the Avs apparently have other ideas how the story will end. Sakic and new coach Patrick Roy have said publicly the team will draft a forward — likely Halifax Mooseheads center Nathan MacKinnon — if it picks first.

Plenty of hockey people think the Avs could be making a big mistake passing on Jones. What does he think about a possible snub? So far, it's all high road.

"No, not at all," Jones said, when asked if he was upset by reports the Avs wanted to go in a different direction from taking him. "I never had it in my mind that I was for sure going to be (the) No. 1 (pick). I knew anything was possible — possible trades, the team preferring another player, things like that. I understand the way sports work and don't take it personally. I know that Joe and Patrick will do what they think is best for their organization."

Sakic, the Avalanche's executive vice president of hockey operations, said the team thinks very highly of Jones — some team personnel still met for dinner with Jones last week in Texas, even after Sakic's proclamations — but maintains the Avs' intent is to pick one of three forwards they feel are "too good to pass up."

It's the No. 1 concern The consensus of why Mac- Kinnon passed Jones on most scouting service lists — Canadian TV analyst Bob McKenzie's influential yearly show on the top draft prospects Tuesday night had MacKinnon ranked first after a survey in which eight of 10 scouts considered him the best player — probably had something to do with the recent Memorial Cup.

Jones had by all accounts a good tournament, helping his Portland Winterhawks reach the championship game against Halifax. But MacKinnon was otherworldly, scoring seven goals and 13 points in four games, including twin hat-trick, five-point games against Portland. History has shown too that drafting a defenseman first overall is risky, with plenty of disappointing examples.

Still, Jones appears to be a lock to go in the draft's top five selections. "Unique" is how TSN analyst and draft guru Craig Button describes Jones, "probably the most unique defenseman to come along since Chris Pronger."

Avs chief scout Rick Pracey said Wednesday he agrees with Roy and Sakic that MacKinnon would be the top pick if the draft were held now, but the Avs still have interest in Jones.

"We've run all our stats and risk-rewards in every capacity and we think Seth Jones is going to be a very good player," Pracey said.

But, Pracey added, the nature of Jones' position makes it more of a risk to bet everything on taking a defenseman at No. 1.

"The ability to impact right away, the development curve, the adjustment to the NHL level in terms of size, strength and speed; the goaltender is the highest risk and the defender is next in line in terms of risk," Pracey said.

A tough transition Jones is African-American, making him unusual in hockey — although the NHL has seen an uptick in black players in recent years. Jones' mother, Amy, is white, but Jones more resembles his black father, Popeye, now an assistant coach with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

Jones could become the first African-American hockey player ever drafted No. 1 overall. But even if he isn't, he figures to be drafted higher than any other African-American player in NHL history.

"I thought he would be a basketball player like me, but I can't tell you how proud I am of him and what he's done with a totally different sport. I mean, I never played hockey at all," Popeye Jones said.

But that probably is the one aspect of the Seth Jones story that Seth finds the least interesting.

"The whole race thing has just never been a big factor in my life," he said. "I mean, I've never had it be a problem for me, from others' words or actions."

Amy still carries with her a mother's love — and worry — for her young son and all he is about to encounter. Pro contracts, big money, life on the road all the time — it's a lot for an 18-year-old to consider.

That's why she plans to live with Seth for the first two years of his NHL career, to help ease the transition to living the pro lifestyle. Popeye and Amy divorced several years ago and Seth primarily lived with his mother after that, though he has frequent summer visits with his father.

"Lots of rookies now live with other teammates, usually the older ones with families, but we felt this would be a good thing for both of us and this will hopefully help him make his job a little easier those first couple years," Amy said.

Said Seth: "My mom was the one who really took me to all the tournaments as a kid, always picking me up from practice and everywhere else. I never would have made it this far without her and love her a lot for it."

Lived in Littleton and Lone Tree for eight years. Starred on Littleton and Arapahoe youth hockey teams.

Won back-to-back gold medals with U.S. under-18 teams at the IIHF world championships in 2011 and 2012.

As an alternate captain, he helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal at this year's world junior championships.

In his first year with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League, he posted 14 goals and 56 points in 61 games, leading the team to the Memorial Cup tournament's final game, a 6-4 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads.

Not all kids who play baseball are uniformed with fancy script across their chests, traveling to $1,000 instructional camps and drilled how to properly hit the cut-off man. Some kids just play to play.